I started taking Niacinimide (vitamin B3) to see if it would help with my anxiety problems. I read that some people have great success with it and would rather take a vitamin than something like klonopin to help me during times of increased anxiety and twitching.

I've only been taking it for 3 days now but last night was the first night in over six years that I had not ONE twitch anywhere on my body. It almost felt weird and I surprisingly missed the twitches (I'm sure that will wear off!). I woke up today and, when I would usually be twitching up a storm in my calf muscles, I again felt nothing. So far today I will get the occasional twitch in the legs (maybe one every 10 minutes or so) but I'm used to getting them every 2-8 seconds in my legs. I also hadn't taken my niacinimide pill yet today. So this is all pretty shocking and amazing to me.

I'm wondering if anyone else has tried Niacinimide and if they noticed any similar results? I did a search on the forums but came up pretty empty handed.

never heard that B3 could help with anxiety - but for sure it can help with twitches because it is an essential material to help our nerves to grow and heal.I was taking composite B vitamine supplement called neurovitan - it almost immediately helped me with my pains and perceived weakness.

I'm glad it seems to work for you! I've been taking a vitamin B complex (with 100 mg of b12, b6, b3, etc.) for several months, without any success. We all know vitamins or supplements can be more harmful than beneficial, but I was willing to give it a try. Maybe my dose isn't high enough? I'll see what I'll do about it.

Jujulia wrote:I've been taking a vitamin B complex (with 100 mg of b12, b6, b3, etc.) for several months, without any success. We all know vitamins or supplements can be more harmful than beneficial, but I was willing to give it a try. Maybe my dose isn't high enough? I'll see what I'll do about it.

Keep in mind, 100mg is very different from the dose the Original Poster is taking - nearly 10 times as much per day. In order to say that it isn't working, you'd have to match his dose as a test first. To the original poster - glad you saw some relief, but I sure wish you were reporting at the 1 month mark instead of the 12 hour mark! LOL Let's see if the results continue past 12 hours. Keep us posted.

I have to say though that Niacin is the *last* thing I would have expected to help. Niacin causes an inflammatory reaction of sorts that can be very uncomfortable even for healthy people (Niacin Flush). In fact I was trying to find a B complex that had no Niacin in it awhile back for this very reason. Purely assuming mind you.

As it turns out, Niacin is well known as an anti-inflammatory. Which would explain your results. Stress = inflammatory. Anxiety = inflammatory. Anything that can counter that would help symptoms. It also apparently improves adrenal function for those who were toying with the idea of Adrenal Fatigue playing a role.

Regarding the dose - how did you decide on 1,000mg a day? I am reading that even at 500mg it should be split up 3x a day. Any research on whether 1,000mg is too much?

I've been doing more research! Here's what I've found.Niacin causes flushing but Niacinimide does not (also known as nicotinamide) - see Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NicotinamideIt talks about nicotinamide's potential anti-anxiety effects here. Also just type "Niacinamide and anxiety" and you'll get lots of hits.

So I'm taking Niacinimide NOT Niacin (they are both Vitamin B3 but in different forms).In one study that was done the doctor prescribed 1000mg in the morning, 500mg at lunch, and 1000 mg in the evening. According to the studies it seems that an effective dose for the management of anxiety (and potentially all the hyper-nervous stuff that goes along with it OR is the cause of it) is around 2-4 grams per day (2000-4000mg).

Right now I'm taking 1000 so that I start out slow - I didn't want to go the full mile right away. So far the results are still the same. I've had less tremor and shaking at the gym - WAY less muscle fatigue - I did more at the gym today than I have in over a year. My twitching is reduced (it does still pop up but it is less - still having almost none at all at night which is when I used to get it the worst). My anxiety is SO MUCH better - the racing thoughts are panicky feelings are gone.

I understand that there is the potential for placebo effect here. However, I've been on SSRI's, magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin B12, Valerian Root, Xanax, and Klonopin. I had no result from any of them except for the xanax and klonopin. As the research shows - the niacinimide seems to work very similarly to the benzo's in that I feel more calm, less nervous, and less "hyper" in the nervous system. However, I'm not sleepy nor do I have the memory problems. In fact, I seem to have more energy and a sharper mind!

Again - don't just take my word for it. Search the interwebs and you will find many successful stories!

Thanks BFSBurger - I've never been a big believer of "natural" products but my mind is changing...I have access to an academic library as well so I've been looking up scientific articles on niacinimide and will now add curcumin to my list.

Quick update: Twitches still less, still more energy and muscles much less fatigued during exercise, less tremor, and anxiety is practically non-existant. Still taking the 1000mg a day of niacinimide - No SSRI's, benzos, or any other supplement.

One thought - a lot of folks say benzo's help ... but there's a seriously bad reflex reaction if they're ever stopped. I mean i guess im just thinking of the people who said they tried Xanax. So i would be aware of that possibility even with this stuff. People tend to avoid benzo's even though they may help ... for that very reason. If its true about this stuff, then the same philosophy may apply.